A Single Message
by AliciaLily
Summary: A sort of prologue to my story Second Chances. I wrote it to help me move past some writers block...takes place right after the boys and Nancy return from Egypt. Oneshot.


A/N: I decided to write a quick one-shot for the series I've recently begun to…develop. It's just a quick little story about Frank and Nancy (who else?). If you've read my story Second Chances, this occurs right before the beginning of that story. Because I'm going to make my stories into a sort of series I wanted to have a short piece that would go at the beginning of it all (ten points if you notice the pattern in the titles. lol). If you haven't read Second Chances…never fear, you might enjoy this anyway!

This story takes place right after the Hardy's and Nancy get back from that infamous trip to Egypt in the book _Secrets of the Nile._

**A Single Message**

Frank stared glumly at his computer while he surfed aimlessly on the internet. He clicked open his e-mail for what felt like the thousandth time and sighed dramatically at his still empty mailbox.

"Why the long face, bro?" Joe asked when he walked into Frank's room and flung himself down on the bed. "I thought finally returning to civilization and your computer would at least perk you up a little bit."

"Yeah, it's great," Frank replied in a bored voice.

"Ooookaaaay," Joe drew the word out and grabbed a basketball off of Frank's shelf. He started tossing it up in the air.

"Nothing is wrong Joe," Frank said, heading off Joe's inevitable question.

"Sure," Joe shrugged.

"I'm serious," Frank said and hit the enter button a little too savagely.

"Bro, I didn't even ask you the question," there was silence as the two boys continued their separate tasks. Joe continued to methodically toss the basketball up in the air and Frank stared intently at his empty mailbox, willing a message to appear.

Frank lurched forward out of his slumped position as the new message notification popped onscreen. "What is it, Frank?" Joe sat up from his relaxed position on Frank's bed and peered over Frank's shoulder, "a message from Nancy!" Joe said excitedly.

Frank nodded curtly and clicked on the message. He and Joe had flown in from Egypt the day before and Nancy had taken the next available flight into River Heights late last night. She promised Frank she would e-mail him as soon as she got home so he would know she had arrived safely.

_Hey Frank!_

_I'm home now, the plane arrived early,_ early_ this morning…Dad was excited to see me but not so excited about picking me at the airport in the early hours of the day. I tried to tell him that at least the place wasn't that crowded but he wasn't really falling for it. :)_

_Anyway, I hope you and Joe are dealing with the jet lag better than I am. I can't stop yawning! I don't think Bess has opened her eyes since we took off from New York. I'm pretty sure she was sleep walking out to the car at the airport. :)_

_Well another case is closed, Hardy. Thanks for a great trip…we're so lucky that our work takes us to the places it does. I had a great time with you and Joe…thank you so much for asking me to come along._

_See you on the next case,_

_Nancy_

Joe leaned back on Frank's bed and looked at his brother's furrowed brow, "are you planning on telling me what's bothering you or do I have to embarrass us both and force it out of you?"

Frank sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the message on the screen, "I'm not sure where I should start."

"Why don't you start by telling me exactly what I interrupted on the balcony of our hotel room?" Joe folded his arms and fixed Frank with a hard stare.

Frank groaned, "It wasn't a big deal."

"Sure," Joe shrugged, "not a big deal."

"Okay…okay! Fine, Nancy and I sort of…kissed," Frank looked at his brother out of the corner of his eye.

"Well, I figured that," Joe said simply, spinning the basketball on his finger, "what I would like to know is what this _means_."

"Oh, well…nothing, I guess," Frank said with an unconvincing shrug.

"Nothing, you guess?" Joe said in amazement, "okay, that makes complete sense."

"Nancy and I talked about it and we both agreed that what happens between us when we're together can never go anywhere because we're both in love with different people."

"Okay," Joe said, waiting for Frank to continue. "And?"

"And what?" Frank looked at his brother and held out his hands so Joe passed him the basketball. "That's all."

"How many times have you and Nancy been on a case together and realized your attraction to each other?" Joe asked and Frank passed the ball back.

"I don't know," Frank muttered.

"Exactly," Joe said simply, "too many times to count."

"There's only one thing I know for sure. I love Callie," Frank said with all of the sincerity of youth.

Joe was silent for a moment, "You better e-mail Nancy back."

Frank looked at the message and sighed, "No, I'll do it later. Let's get the guys together for a game in the park." He clicked out of the message and grabbed the ball out of Joe's hands. "Phil and I still owe you and Biff for cheating in the last game of basketball we played."

"Hey!" Joe cried, "We didn't cheat!" and he followed Frank out of the bedroom.

* * *

At home in River Heights Nancy sat staring at her own computer much in the same way as Frank had done. Would Frank reply instantly to her e-mail and would it mean anything if he did? Nancy sighed and pushed away from her computer and went to lie down on her bed.

As tired as Nancy was she found herself staring wide eyed at her luggage that stood unpacked on the other side of the room.

What was it about Frank that made her heart race, her pulse quicken? She loved Ned and yet every time she was with Frank she ended up cheating on him. Whether it be by feeling something toward Frank that she shouldn't or…kissing him.

Nancy lifted her fingers to her lips, remembering the feeling of Frank's on hers. She jumped when the phone on her bedside table began to ring. She knocked over her alarm clock in her haste to answer it and said, rather breathlessly, "hello?"

"Nancy! You're back!" was her boyfriend's reply. Nancy chided herself for feeling upset that it wasn't Frank.

"Ned, hey!" Nancy replied and felt the familiar rush of warmth at hearing his voice.

"How was the flight?" he asked.

Nancy told Ned all about Egypt, the case and the flight home and smiled to herself. Who knew what her feelings for Frank meant, but right here and right now, talking to Ned made her feel good.

Who knew what the future would hold but for now, Nancy was content.

* * *

**Kind of pointless…but oh well… lol, I suppose it's really just a prologue to Second Chances. :) In any case, it helped me get over my horrible case of writer's block! YAY!**


End file.
